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voracious wild beast.
    “Well, probably not.” Stewart chuckled. “She seriously needs to take a chill pill, especially around Miss An’gel and Miss Dickce. The way they were bickering last night really got to you, didn’t it?” Stewart often pretended to be a complete flibbertigibbet, but he was far shrewder and more observant than he liked to let on.
    “I don’t like conflict, especially conflict that open.” The cat meowed, and I smiled. “Neither does Diesel.”
    “Par for the course with Vera and the Ducote sisters.” Stewart rolled his eyes. “I guess everybody else is just usedto it. If Vera didn’t push the sisters so hard, they wouldn’t resent her so. They’re really not the self-absorbed aristocrats they sometimes appear to be.”
    I could concur with that. In my limited experience with them I had seen their true kindness and concern for the welfare of others.
    Stewart echoed my thoughts as he continued, “They work very hard, and if they were thirty years younger they’d probably be running their own companies. A lot of people have reason to be grateful to them for the good works they do.” He paused for a moment. “Instead of just pitching in and getting the work done, Vera wants to be in charge. I think she wants the glory, like she has to prove herself to someone, but she doesn’t want to soil her hands with actual work.”
    “Perhaps she needs to prove something to herself,” I suggested.
    Stewart nodded. “You’re probably right. Miss An’gel and Miss Dickce care about helping people, and that’s the point of it all. They regard it as their duty. It’s how they were brought up to think.”
    “Vera loathes them.” I paused. “At least, that’s my impression.”
    “Maybe she does,” Stewart said. “She sure as heck resents them because they thwart her all the time.”
    “Like with the gala. They sent out the invitations yesterday, before the meeting.”
    “Doesn’t surprise me.” Stewart laughed. “No flies on those two old girls.” He glanced at his watch. “Time I was heading off to campus. Can’t keep the president waiting.” He pushed back his chair, stood, and then took his coffee cup to the sink behind me.
    I turned in my chair to face him. “One quick thing,before you go.” I was about to be incredibly nosy, but curiosity had the better of me.
    Stewart nodded. “Sure, what is it?”
    “I mentioned earlier to Azalea that Vera was here last night, and I thought she was going to have a conniption fit over the woman. Do you have any idea why she would hate Vera so much?” Azalea had once worked for Stewart’s family, although it was many years ago now, and I thought he might know something.
    Instead of answering, however, Stewart blinked at me several times in rapid succession and tilted his head a tiny bit.
    Taking his cue, I turned back to the table to see Azalea standing a few feet away.
    “You best be mindin’ your own business, Mr. Charlie.” Her fierce expression hit me like a laser, and it took all I had not to crawl under the table to escape from those eyes. Diesel did disappear under there. “What’s between me and that woman ain’t nobody’s business in this house. Ain’t
never
gonna be.” She stomped past me and moments later I heard the thud of her feet on the stairs.

FIVE
    I felt about three inches tall, and to judge by Stewart’s expression, he was experiencing a similar amount of chagrin.
    Stewart pushed away from the counter. “Guess I’d better head to my meeting, discretion being the better part of valor and all that.” He headed for the front door after treating me to a pale imitation of his usual cocky grin.
    “Guess you and I had better hop it up the stairs, boy, and dress for work.” I got up from the table, and Diesel trotted toward the hall. With a rueful glance at my unfinished breakfast I followed the cat upstairs. With any luck I could get out the front door without encountering Azalea again. I was frankly surprised